Employees from Coca-Cola & Centra join us for Big Beach Clean!

Hundreds of Coca-Cola & Centra employees will take to beaches across the island for the Big Beach Clean

Coca-Cola will undertake its most ambitious volunteering initiative to date, with hundreds of employees across the island of Ireland in taking part in the Big Beach Clean, on Friday 14th September.

The Big Beach Clean initiative is run by An Taisce’s Clean Coasts programme and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Now in its eighth year in Ireland, the Big Beach Clean event is part Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), the world’s largest coastal clean-up event and marine litter survey.

Coca-Cola staff based in Dublin, Ballina, Wexford, Drogheda, Lisburn, Cork and Tuam will get involved in the Big Beach Clean, with more than 300 of its 1,600 employees expected to turn out to support the movement to rid our beaches of litter. Three flagship events are planned for Enniscrone, Co. Mayo; Banna Beach Co Kerry, and Portavogie, Co. Down, led by coastal champions musician Kian Egan and comedian Colin Murphy.

Clean Coasts have partnered with Centra stores based in the heart of coastal communities to encourage their shoppers to take part in the Big Beach Clean. Sixty-five Centra stores across the Republic of Ireland will promote the Big Beach Clean in 2018, giving those who register the option of picking up their beach clean kit from their local store.

Marking the end of such a beautiful summer where Ireland’s beaches were enjoyed by so many, the mass-volunteering effort by Coca-Cola and Centra aims to inspire and encourage other groups across the country to follow suit and register for their own clean ups over the weekend.

The initiative marks a further milestone for Coca-Cola’s long-running partnership with An Taisce and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. Coca-Cola Clean Coast Week in June this year mobilised a record 3,900 volunteers and over 200 coastal clean-ups across the island of Ireland.

The Week saw more than 900 additional volunteers engaged in clean-up activities, removing more than 3,500 bags or 23 tonnes of litter from the island’s coastline. These efforts contributed to an additional seven tonnes of litter collected in 2018, more than 40% of an increase compared to last year.

Speaking ahead of the Big Beach Clean, musician, TV presenter and avid surfer Kian Egan said; “Together with Coca-Cola, An Taisce and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, I’m thrilled to be continuing the work of the Clean Coasts programme, highlighting the importance of communities coming together to protect our beautiful island’s coastlines. Volunteers always have and will always play the most important role in protecting our coastline and I’m very proud to lead the charge on Friday 14th September as hundreds of Coca-Cola employees take to beaches to inspire us all to think about how we can protect and celebrate our beautiful Irish coastline.”

Matthieu Seguin, General Manager, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and Northern Ireland said, “Coca-Cola believes in a world without waste, and through our involvement in the Big Beach Clean this year, we want to mobilise the power of our employees by leading the charge in cleaning up our beaches, and inspiring others to do the same. We also recognise that we can’t achieve this ambition alone and would like to pay special tribute to An Taisce, and Keep Northern Ireland for their ongoing partnership, and also to Centra for helping us to bring this message straight into coastal stores at the heart of communities.”